The cult of Cybele, known by a variety of names including ‘The Great Mother’, was brought to Rome in the late third century BC, where she was worshipped in the form of a sacred stone. Her rituals were characterized most notably through ecstatic rituals where her worshippers became insensitive to pain and her priests castrated themselves in homage to her mythical lover Attis. Cybele’s role as life-giver and sustainer made her especially attractive to women, and she first features on coins of the Imperial women, beginning with Diva Faustina. Cybele is often shown riding in a chariot pulled by lions or, as on this example, sitting on a throne flanked by lions.